Touch Me
by Ashdragon9340
Summary: Damien has never been able to touch a single person his whole life, why? His touch causes the death of others and he can't control it. When he was seven he ran away and met Matthew who had a similar problem since his touched caused people to turn into ice statues. Damien is isolated, that is until he meets a child of Hades.
1. Chapter 1

"Run faster!

"I'm running as fast as I can!"

The two boys that looked the complete opposite of each other ran from whatever was chasing them with fear evident in their eyes. One boy pale as snow with pale curly blond hair and dark eyes, the other had light caramel complexion with tussled straight ebony hair and bright golden eyes.

"That's not fast enough!" The caramel toned boy yelled but they both halted as they got to a road. "Aha!" They ran across the street to what looked like a biker bar.

"What are we doing here?!"

"I have a plan."

"Damien wait don't go in ther-ugh." The pale boy held his face in frustration, Damien always acted before thinking it was rather ridiculous. "Leave all the thinking to Mathew why don't you." He muttered to himself looking left and right for an exit. There was a loud bang causing Mathew to look across the street. His eyes narrowed and he could see the faint outline of the giant scorpion that was chasing them. "Oh my…. Come on come on come on who ever is looking down at us please please save us pl-"

"What are you whining about?" Damien asked as he came out of the bar. "Lets go." He said twirling a keychain around his finger and looking at all the bikes that were lined up.

"Where did you get those?" Matthew asked looking at Damien with a shocked expression.

"Lets just say I can be very convincing. Ah here's our ride out of here." He smiled looking at the black Harley Cruiser with dark red flames on it.

"Do you even know how to drive this thing?" Matthew asked as they got onto the back.

"Umm." Damien smirked revving the broke. "There's always first time experiences!" He exclaimed taking off just as the giant scorpion broke through the tree line and before Matthew could change his mind about trusting Damien on a high powered vehicle. "Hey! This is like riding a bike without pedaling!"

"I doubt it!" Matthew yelled holding onto the seat handles in a death grip.

"So how's mister grumpy doing behind us?" Damien asked relaxed as always.

"I don't think it's safe to look back."

"Because he's right behind us or my driving skills?" Damien asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Both." The blonde responded said but glanced back anyway. "DRIVE FASTER~!" Matthew yelled as the pincher came down towards them.

"No need to tell me twice!" The bike jerked forward and bounced as the pincher embedded into the ground. "Slight miscalculation!" Damien shouted as one of the tires popped. The handle bars swiveled out of control, "Okay, okay don't worry I got this."

"Damien!"

Damien slammed on the brakes and turned the bars quickly.

The boys jumped towards the scorpion and ended up rolling under its legs as the bike skidded away. Damien yelped as his knee got skidded across the asphalt. The stood up and he winced, his skinny jeans were torn down form the knee to the middle of his shin, the white bone off his kneecap could be seen under all of the blood.

"Don't worry!" Damien said ignoring the pain. "I got this." He said standing in front of Matthew who was groaning and holding his arm in pain. "It was my mistake I'll own up to it."

"Damien do-"

"This was my fault." Damien interrupted glaring at the scorpion as it turned. Suddenly a huge metal dragon came down crushing the scorpion. "…And that has nothing to do with me." Damien said sitting right down.

"I told you!" A voice said causing Damien to shiver slightly.

"Oh so you weren't lying."

Three people jumped off of the dragon and went towards the two, Damien settled himself closer to Matthew.

"Matthew, do the thing."

"Right." Matthew nodded taking off his one glove and touched the ground causing the ground to form a thin layer of ice to form. Two of three people fell and slipped automatically and fell. "What?" The ice melted around the curly haired male causing him to smirk.

"Ow." The other male said sitting up and rubbing his head. "That really hurt."

"Well they're obviously not human." The girl said.

"Matthew…." Damien trailed off. "Run, go." He said shoving the boy away.

"What?" Matthew asked his eyes going towards Damien.

"Go. Please." Damien said as the other three started getting closer.

"If you think for a second that I'll leave you here then you're insane."

"We're not here to hurt you." The curly haired male said. "I'm Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus."

"I'm Piper daughter of Aphrodite."

"Nico, son of Hades."

Damien looked at the son of Hades; he definitely had a dream about him the other night. They had a long conversation during the dream but Damien never remembered what it was about. 

"Here let me help you." Leo said with a hand out being offered.

"He's injured let's hurry and take him to Will." Nico said looking at Damien, recognition in his eyes.

"Oh will you stop thinking of your best friend for a second." Piper teased.

Matthew stood up putting his glove back on. He helped Damien up and they both starred at the other three.

"We're demigods-"

"We got as much." Matthew said, "We know what they are and we know what we are. I know who my godly parent is, he doesn't."

"Whose you godly parent?" Leo asked.

"Khione." Leo winced and looked at Piper. "Yes I know already, she's horrible, I've met my mother before."

"Anyway." Nico interrupted. "He's bleeding and he doesn't look that good so we're going to bring you to camp, which is a save haven for demigods."

"Okay." Damien nodded standing up and leaning against Matthew. "We'll go with you."

 **XxXxXxX**

"Wait, no; don't touch me!" Damien yelled trying to shoo away the members of the Apollo cabin with his foot.

"You need to be helped!" One of the blondes said.

"DO NOT TOUCH ME!"

"You're going to die!"

"That's fine by me!"

"I don't know how to deal with him anymore Chiron, we've given him the highest risk of nectar and ambrosia even one more _drop_ and he'll be in flames." Will explained as he and the centaur walked into the infirmary. "He won't let anyone touch him either and his wounds cannot be ignored from what I was told he jumped off of a motorcycle or something, the other boy, Matthew, he didn't get it to bad but he wouldn't let anyone touch him either but he was fine after a bit of ambrosia."

"I'll see what I can do." Chiron said going over towards Damien. "Excuse me, will you stop throwing things at the Apollo children." Damien froze and his eyes quickly darted to Chiron. "May I look at your wound?"

"Don't touch me." Damien said starring at him like a caged animal.

Chiron could clearly see the broken look in his eyes when he said touch, something had happened when he was younger, something with someone touching him.

"Why not."

"You'll die."

With the last word dropping from his mouth everything became silent. Chiron noticed the haunting look in his eyes worsening.

"Damien!"

"Matthew!"

The look in his eyes disappeared as he looked towards the doorway seeing his best friend. Chiron nodded and looked towards the other both. A glowing snowflake appeared on his head.

"Damien was it, son of Khione?" Chiron asked.

"Um…yeah, don't touch me I freeze people sometimes, by accident of course." Matthew said.

"And Damien kills people?" Chiron asked.

"He doesn't mean to!" Matthew said. "It's not his fault, it's whoever his godly parent is and-"

"Ummmm Chiron." Will said.

Everyone turned to Damien who had an inverted touch hovering his head (basically an upside down torch). Chiron blinked surprised however that would explain a lot of things.

"I can heal you Damien, you won't kill me." Chiron said.

"And why's that?" Damien asked still not believing him.

"I'm immortal you're death touch won't have any effect on me."

 **XxXxXxX**

"Okay so." Chiron said. "Matthew will stay in the Hermes cabin since his mother obviously doesn't have a cabin here and Damien will stay in the Hades Cabin."

"What why?' Nico asked confused. "The upside down touch wasn't the symbol of my father, wouldn't that be disrespectful?"

"No his fa-" A small skull with ruby eyes floated over Damien's head. "It seems your father is okay with it, his own father is someone who works in the underworld and helps Hades out, he also trusts his father."

"Who is it?" Nico asked starring at the boy.

"Thanatos." Chiron said.

"Oh…." Nico said realizing the connection.

"Yeah."

"Wait will I be separated from Matthew?" Damien asked stepping closer to said boy.

"Yes but only with sleeping and eating arrangements." Chiron said.

Damien shifted from foot to foot and glanced at Matthew. Damien was normally the loud obnoxious one and usually was okay with strangers. However this time Matthew could tell he was uncomfortable with this arrangement. Damien had separation issues, ever since he was young.

"It'll be okay." Matthew said. "I'll still be here with you, alright?"

"O-okay." Damien said.

"Well, it's time for dinner so if we could all go to the dinning hall."

 **XxXxXxX**

"Um you can just sleep wherever." Nico said as they came into the cabin. It was basically all black inside with coffin shaped beds with blood red pillows and sheets. The comforter was dark with small cartoon bones on them. "Um my bed is right there and the one across from it is my sisters…all the other ones are unoccupied."

"Okay…" Damien trailed off making his way over to the farthest bed away from Nico. "Thank you…" Damien trailed off sitting on the bed and looking around. "Is that your sister?" He asked pointing to a picture on the wall.

"Yeah."

Damien blinked and focused his eyes on the photo.

"She was dead before." Damien blurted out. "Eh…I mean never mind. Goodnight." Damien said getting under the blanket, not bothering to even change out of his cloths, not like he had any cloths to change in anyway since he usually just robbed a store.


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you okay?" Nico asked Damien as they sat down after giving the gods a sacrifice.

"Um, I don't know." Damien sighed trying to forget the dream, no nightmare he had last night. " I just." He shook his head.

Nico took in the dark circles under Damien's eyes, they weren't there yesterday, well they were but not as bad as they were now. Nico sighed and scooted closer to the boy who just moved over on reflex. Damien was wearing a long sleeved white shirt under his camp shirt with skinny jeans on and gloves.

"Don't touch me." Damien said looking down at his plate. "Please don't touch me."

"You know if I didn't know any better I would think that you were a big germaphobe." Nico chuckled trying to lighten up the mood.

"I wish it was just that." Damien scoffed. "It would've made my life ten times easier to live." He muttered getting a haunted look in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Nico asked scared that Damien was getting eaten alive by his past, Nico was like this but he could handle his bad past, even when he was twelve years old living on the streets. "Damien, maybe you should eat something."

"I'm not that hungry." Damien said clearing his throat and looking around the mess hall. "Have you seen Matthew?" Damien asked.

"No, actually I haven't; strange." Nico muttered looking towards the Hermes' table.

"If you're looking for that ice dude he's not here." Damien yelped and turned around facing Mr. D. Damien made a face at the god and scrunched his nose up. Mr. D took note of this and anger flared in his eyes. "Is there a reason you're giving me that look, _demigod_?"

"Uh… He doesn't know who you are." Nico explained. "This is Dionysus, here we call him Mr. D and he's a god, a god you don't want angry." Nico whispered to Damien.

"Where's Matthew?" Damien asked rudely ignoring Nico's warning.

"Damien…" Nico trailed off glancing at Mr. D.

"He was sent away."

"Why?"

"Because he is not Greek, he is a Roman demigod."

"How do you know?" Damien asked skeptical about the whole thing.

"Because he didn't understand a lick of Greek, Greek demigods are naturals at Greek, it's wired into their brains, apparently unlike respect." Mr. D said glaring down at Damien.

"Respect is something that is earned not handed out." Damien responded. "Where is Matthew, I'm going where ever he is at."

"Sorry you can't you're not Roman, maybe that's why you have no discipline, unlike Maxwell."

"His name is Matthew, you imbec-"

"Mr. D have you tried the grilled ham and cheese, truly wonderful." Nico interrupted.

"No I haven't but I will try it." Mr. D said. "You better learn how to hold your tongue before you don't have a human one, that goes for your vocal cords too."

The god left and Nico let out a breath of relief and turned to Damien.

"Really don't anger him." Nico said seriously. "He isn't someone you want angry."

"Where is Matthew?" Damien asked looking at Nico expectantly.

"He's at the Roman camp for demigods, it's called Camp Jupiter. I can take you there during our free period, okay." Nico promised.

"Okay." Damien said looking at his plate.

"You need to eat before then though." Nico said looking at Damien's untouched plate. "You didn't eat breakfast either."

"Do I have to?" Damien asked looking at Nico with begging eyes.

"Yes, it'll make you feel ten times better after you do eat, I promise."

"Okay…"

 **XxXxXxX**

"Alright are you ready?" Nico asked looking at Damien.

"Yeah."

"Alright you have to hold onto me."

"Wait what?" Damien asked looking at Nico.

"Well I'm going to shadow travel so you need to hold onto me or you know, you'll get lost in the shadows." Nico said. "Anyway make sure you keep breathing and well don't close your eyes."

"Okay?" Damien said slowly confused and grabbed the back of Nico's shirt.

"You better hold on tighter than that." Nico said.

"I'll be fine." Damien said.

"Alright if you say so." Nico chuckled. "Don't say I didn't warn you if you let go and get lost." Damien watched in awe, as the shadows got closer to them before they were completely engulfed into the shadows. "Keep going." Nico said as he sprinted through the shadows. "Don't let go." Damien felt his grip loosen slightly. His fingers were just about to slip from his shirt but they got to their destination before that could happen. "Are you okay?" Nico asked breathing heavily.

"Are you okay?" Damien asked since Nico was the one that was exhausted.

"Nico!" A voice yelled causing Nico to smile and open is arms wide open. A body slammed into Nico. "You haven't visited in a while."

"Yeah I know, I'm sorry." Nico said hugging the small girl back.

"Hey Nico."

"Hey Frank."

Damien just stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do since he didn't know anyone around here. Hazel's golden eyes went towards Damien and she froze, he had similar golden eyes and looked haunted.

"Nico." Hazel whispered. "That's not uh another child of Pluto is it?" She asked.

"Hmm. Oh Damien, no he's not our sibling, Damien is a child of the underworld though; his father is Thanatos."

"I hate that god." Frank shivered. "Um it's nothing against you though I swear he's just so scary in a non threatening way"

"Don't worry." Damien said looking towards the sky. "I hate him too."

"Anyway I know you guys got a new camper recently before lunch, do you know where he is?"

"Oh you mean Matthew? He's in the fifth cohort."

"Well this is his best friend, that's Damien so anyway he's here to see Matthew if that's possible."

"Of course." Hazel smiled. "He should be around here somewhere actually."

"Damien!"

"Matthew." Damien sighed in relief and turned seeing his best friend, "Hey." He said awkwardly not knowing what to say.

"Why are you being so awkward?" Matthew asked. "This is Yuki, she's my half sister."

Damien looked over to the small Asian girl next to Matthew. She looked at him with sharp cold eyes causing him to shiver uncomfortably, that stare reminded him of Khione a little too much.

"Hi…" Damien said.

"Don't be awkward." Matthew said. "Oh Yuki is helping me master my powers so I can stop freezing people, isn't that great."

"Yeah." Damien nodded.

"We have a lot to do let's go Matty." Yuki said turning around and walking away.

"See ya later Damien." Matthew said waving before sprinting after his sister.

"Right…" Damien muttered sadly looking after his best friend, now he was truly alone. "So um…" He turned around seeing no one, now he literally was alone. "Well then…" Damien muttered looking around. "Okay…"

 **XxXxXxX**

"Hey I've been looking everywhere for you!" Nico exclaimed looking down at the sleeping Damien. "Hello? Damien?" He asked crouching down.

"Not this again."

"Sleep talking?" Nico asked looking closer to Damien. "Well that's attractive." He chuckled.

"Make it stop."

"I should probably wake him up…" Nico trailed off. "But we do have some time to spare, like ten minutes or so…" He said rubbing his chin. "Maybe just a peek."

Suddenly the scene changed and Nico was in front of a fire pit outside a small house surrounded by trees. He looked around and saw Damien in the fetal position.

"Momma!" Nico's eyes went towards the house seeing a small boy with gaped teeth come out of the backdoor. The boy stopped in front of Nico and looked at him with wide eyes, "Whoa who are you?" He asked.

"You can see me?" Nico asked confused.

Nico focused on the little boy and noticed that his face was splattered with freckles and he had orangey brown hair.

"Damien what did you need?" A soft angelic voice said causing the small boy to look passed Nico as if he couldn't see him anymore.

"What are you doing here?" Nico turned seeing the real Damien looking up at him with haunted eyes.

"I didn't mean to interfere I just wanted to know what you were dreaming about…" Nico said slightly embarrassed that he had gotten caught.

"You can't be here." Damien said standing up and wiping his face. "I don't want you to see what happens." Damien said before closing his eyes. "I don't want t see what happens." He muttered. Suddenly the scene changed and they were in the middle of the street. "I didn't do that…" Damien trailed off. "I never control my dreams like that… I can't control them like that."

"I didn't do it." Nico said holding up his hands in surrender. " I can only dream hop, I don't control them, that's not my forte."

"Well I didn't do it."

"I did."

Both boys looked around for the voice but nothing was there. Nico narrowed his eyes and pushed Damien behind him.

"Don't touch m-"

"Hold on to my shirt and don't let go, we don't have time to argue there's a god around here somewhere."

"I am no god."

Damien lost his breath as something touched his shoulder.

"Nico he's-"

Nico quickly pulled Damien in front of him and turned slicing through thin air. Nico looked left and right before pulling Damien back in front of him again.

"Don't move." Nico whispered in Damien's ear.

"This is a dream, it's not real." Damien responded. "It doesn't matter what we do they can't hurt us."

"Damien, don't move." Nico said more sternly.

"It's only a dream."

Damien forced himself out of Nico's grip and out of the small safe spot Nico had created for them.

"DAMIEN!"

A hand reached out towards him and Damien saw a sinister smile. He closed his eyes.

"This is a dream, it's not real." Damien muttered.

"You idiot." Nico muttered before pulling Damien back. Damien gasped and sat up, still where he had fell asleep. "You're dumb." Nico said next to him.

"Why does it…" Damien muttered pulling up his sleeve. "What the?"

"It doesn't matter if that was a dream, a deity can hurt you any time." Nico said looking at the handprint on Damien's forearm, it looked like a scorch mark and a bruise put together. "I told you not to move."

"I didn't know tha-"

"Exactly my point." Nico caught off sharply. "You didn't know."

"I'm, I'm sorry." Damien said looking to the floor.

"It's whatever you did it to yourself." Nico sighed looking down at Damien's arm. "Let's get you to Will."

"He can't touch me." Damien said.

"It could get infected and you could die." Nico said.

"It'll heal on its own, it always does." Damien muttered pulling down his sleeve.

"Listen you-"

"Just leave me be will you." Damien snapped.

"Fine, find your own way back to camp."

"What?" Damien asked.

"I'm leaving you alone."

"Hey wait!" Damien exclaimed standing up. "Don't leave me alone." Nico was swallowed by the shadows and Damien ran after him. "Please I don't want to be alone!"

"What are you, insane?" Nico asked looking behind him. Nico turned back and reached out towards Damien. Their hands brushed before Damien suddenly went through the ground. "What the Hades." He cursed before following him.


	3. Chapter 3

"That hurt." Damien muttered sitting up and wincing. "Ow." He gasped holding his side. He pulled his hand away seeing blood on it. "Oh boy…" He looked around trying to see what he landed on. He stood up and winced leaning on the wall. Damien took off his camp shirt and looked at his long sleeved undershirt. The white was stained red, "That's not good."

Damien ripped his camp shirt and made a makeshift bandage for his wound. He looked around and grabbed a long metal pole and used it as a walking stick. He winced and held his side after several minutes of walking. He groaned and sat down against a wall and tried to relax his muscles.

"I smell a demigod. Where are you"?

Damien tensed up, what the hell did he just walk in on?

"They won't answer you idiot."

Damien let out a deep breath, his head was pounding and he was bleeding, how was he suppose to get away from these two. He shifted himself to the corned and looked around it seeing two ten foot monsters. One turned towards his area and he gasped, it only had one eye…

"Holy-" A hand covered his mouth and he almost panicked, almost.

"Don't speak." A voice whispered in his ear. "They can mimic voices, so you have to stay quiet or it won't end up well." The voice was surprisingly comfortable, but they were touching him. He started to panic again but then he felt the cloth of a glove and relaxed. "Very slowly back up."

Damien nodded and followed the male backwards. After they were a safe distance away from the corner Damien was released and he turned around ready for a fight but instead got star struck. The boy's face was covered in freckles and his brown hair was covering some of his face.

"Hi…" Damien muttered looking at the boy.

"I'm Alabaster Torrington." The boy said.

"Damien…"

"So what are you doing here Damien?" Alabaster asked taking him in.

"I was, nothing it was an accident actually…"

"Hmmm yeah, you're hurt." Alabaster said motioning towards Damien's side.

"Yeah I know it's fine I'll survive, where are we exactly?" Damien asked.

"Queens, New York." Alabaster answered. "Are you sure you'll survive because whatever color your shirt was, it's not that color anymore unless it was red." Damien looked down and saw that his shirt was now red not orange. He untied it and tossed it aside and pulled off his white shirt also. He winced slightly and refused to look down, he might pass out if he did that. "Let me help you."

"No!" Damien exclaimed. "You can't touch me, you'll die if you do." He said looking at Alabaster.

"Found them!"

"Oh." Alabaster said before looking at Damien. "Can't do that so I guess I'm fighting, Remember don't speak and run out of the warehouse." Damien watched as Alabaster pulled out a card and tapped it. A solid gold broadsword etched with glowing green ruins formed itself in his hands. Damien noticed that similar ruins were on Alabaster's cloths also. "Cyclopes, you are my target and my blade finds you _, Incantare: Persequor Vestigium_." Alabaster whispered.

The ruins glowed bright green and Alabaster radiated power. He turned and smiled at Damien, his eyes glowing green before turning back towards the two monsters. Damien watched as Alabaster charged at the two and decided it would be best to leave and not be baggage since he obviously wouldn't be any help as he was now.

Nico sighed and rubbed his face; he can't just go back to camp without Damien that would be bad, like very bad. What would he even say _,_ _Hey I was messing around and Damien got lost while chasing me in the middle of shadow traveling and he could be dead surprise_ , yeah that didn't seem ideal.

Nico groaned and turned the corner of the warehouse in a rush and collided with somebody.

"Ow… oh my gods." A voice gasped in pain.

"Damien." Nico said. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Nico!" Damien exclaimed. Nico looked at Damien's wound horrified. "I need you to help somebody out."

"Don't talk in third person it's weird."

"No…No not me." Damien groaned wincing as he got up. "There's another half blood, he helped me out and I can't do anything about it but you can."

"I don't have my sword how am I suppose too help him out?" Nico asked.

"But you had it in my dream-"

"Yeah I could get it because it was a dream, I don't usually bring my sword with me on visits to my sister because I'm just going between camps, this has never happened to me before Damien."

"Aren't you a child of Hades, can't you control the dead or something."

"Yeah that would work but shadow traveling takes a lot out of me and the last time I did that I passed out and got lectured by Will."

"So you're telling me there's nothing you can do for him, you'll let another demigod die?" Damien asked looking Nico right in the eye.

Nico gazed at Damien's face, he could really see the freckles now and they were so adorable. His golden eyes blazed with heat and desire, Nico leaned in wanting to do whatever Damien wanted. Nico blinked dumbly since Damien had turned around and started walking away. What the hell was that?

"Damien where are you going?" Nico asked.

"To help." Damien said looking back at him. "Not once has anyone turned their back on me so why should I do the same?" Damien asked. "I'm tired of death surrounding my life, someone else can't die because of me."

Damien groaned and leaned on the wall, his wound was going to kill him if he didn't act fast. He sighed and looked at his wound, no matter how hard it was to pass out. Damien closed his eyes and cursed.

"Here." Nico sighed crouching down next to Damien, "I can help you." Nico took off his black tank top. "Tie this as tight as you can around you to cover your wound." Damien nodded and did as he was told. "Now we're going to go help this demigod of yours and we'll bring him back to camp with us okay."

"Thank you."

"Now let's go." Nico said looking around before getting a long pole. "This will do."

Nico followed Damien the way he came and stopped when they heard the Cyclopes talking.

"Stop moving you annoying demigod!"

"He's not going to listen to you idiot!"

Nico looked around the corner and his eyebrows shot up, he knew those symbols he saw a lot of them on Lou Ellen during capture the flag, they were protection and barrier incantations. He turned back to Damien.

"That's a child of Hecate, and he's aware of what is by the look of those ruins." Nico said. "I've never seen him at camp and Roman's don't go on quests this Far East."

"What does that mean?" Damien asked.

"It means that he is a banished demigod meaning we can't help him."

"Banished?" Damien asked.

"Look a few years ago there was a huge battle between the Titans and Gods, demigods were split between them and any survivor on the Titan team was banished, a kindness form the gods who had the privilege of winning. If we help him then we will be considered enemies of the gods and that's not good Damien." Nico said.

"So you're just going to let him die?" Damien asked slowly, his face actually getting pale despite his tan complexion.

Nico took note of this and glanced back at him, the child of Hecate seemed to be doing all right. He looked back at Damien, his breathing was shallow and he was shaking. Nico looked at his wound, he wasn't going to last. Nico took a deep breath before looking behind him once more, the only Hecate child he knew that was banished was Alabaster Torrington, Lou Ellen admired her brother for his skills, and he would be alright.

"I'm sorry Damien but you're my first priority." Nico said taking Damien's gloved hand. "I can't allow you to die."

"Wait no stop! Nico!" Damien yelled as the shadows crept onto them.

 **XxXxXxX**

"How's he doing?" Nico asked Will in front of the infirmary. On the way back Damien passed out and hasn't woken up for two days. Will took in the bags under Nico's eyes. "Well?" Nico asked.

"You like him~." Will teased.

"That doesn't answer my question." Nico said.

"You're not even going to deny it, fine take all the fun out of it." Will muttered. Nico gave Will an annoyed look. "He's fine his body just couldn't take the strain."

"So what does that mean?" Nico asked.

"He'll wake up in a few days, if he doesn't then that's when we worry Nico. His body is healing itself quite well. He lost a lot of blood so his body is using all of its energy to make more of it, nothing too serious. He's not even in a coma if you really wanted to you could just go over there and smack him, he would probably wake up, his body just shut down from being too exhausted, now would I recommend you smacking him awake of course not. He'll wake up on his own." Will said. "If you ask me all of this sleep is good for him, he doesn't seem to be too fond of sleep."

"So he's really okay?" Nico asked. "It's not a coma."

"If it were a coma he wouldn't be able to sleep talk, he says some crazy things in his sleep." Will chuckled.

"Okay that's good." Nico said relieved.

"So you like him right?" Will asked.

"Well it's not that it's, just." Nico stuttered looking away from Will.

"Love at first sight?" Will teased.

"I don't love him-"

"Yet."

"I like him but for the passed couple of months he's been in my dreams a-"

"I'm just hearing about this, because?" Will asked.

"Because it was never that serious, the night before we went to get him me and him had a complete conversation in my dream, I forget what it was about but he told me where he was and that he knew he was going to be in trouble soon before I could ask him what that meant he faded away." Nico shrugged.

"Interesting." Will said.

"Why can't I feel my side!" a voice exclaimed causing the two boys to look inside the infirmary seeing that Damien was awake and sitting up confused and worried. "How did I get here?"

"You're awake." Nico smiled and went inside the infirmary.

"Yeah…" Damien trailed off looking at Nico, "so Will was it." Damien said looking at the blond, "wanna tell me why I can't feel my side?"

"I numbed it so you wouldn't wake up early than you needed to." Will explained. "You should be able to feel you're side in a few hours so honestly I would take pain meds now so they kick in because you're going to be in a lot of pain for the next few days."

"Oh what joy." Damien muttered.

"Ha! He's sarcastic I like him already." Will said amused. "Anyway I would recommend you stay in the infirmary for tonight, tomorrow you can go back to your cabin."

"Okay." Damien nodded.

"Well I'm going to go check on a few others I'll be back." Will said leaving the two alone.

Damien laid down and turned on his side to purposely avoid Nico.

"Real mature." Nico said looking at Damien's back.

"I know I am, thank you."

Nico sighed and ran his hand through his hair, why was liking someone so difficult all the time?

"Listen I know you're mad at me bu-"

"Furious at you." Damien corrected.

"Well whatever you are at me, I couldn't let you die Damien. You were my first priority and you're important-"

"No I'm not." Damien cut off.

"Yes you are or a deity wouldn't have been after you in your dreams and…and you're important to me." Nico said. "Listen I know you've had a hard past, your mom died and you've been alone for a long time, and Matt left you so I shouldn't have been joking around when I said I was going to leave you alone, I want you to be able to trust me and I know I've lost that trust now but I need you to forgive me please." Nico begged. Damien didn't respond causing Nico to sigh. "I guess I'll just leave you alone, goodnight."

 **XxXxXxX**

"This isn't my dream…" Nico muttered looking around, he was in a house.

"It's mine." Nico turned seeing Damien standing there with crossed arms and a pout on his face. "I want to forgive you so the only way to do that is to see if I can trust you."

"Okay so where are we?" Nico asked.

"This is the house I grew up in until I was seven." Damien said shifting uncomfortably. "Until my mom died. This particular memory was when I was three or four. I didn't always have my death touch, it developed as I got older."

"So what's this have to do with anything?" Nico asked.

"Come with me." Damien said turning and going up the stairs. "Hurry and stay close or you'll be kicked out of my dream."

Nico hurried and followed Damien to a room. Damien took a deep breath and walked inside, Nico following him. Nico froze for a second and looked at the god in front of him, he had seen Thanatos before but never like this. The god had on his usual attire on but his wings weren't there anymore. Thanatos looked at the sleeping child with love and something Nico couldn't really put a word to.

"What are you doing here?"

Nico turned to the door they just went through and blinked. The lady standing there had light brown hair with an orange tint pulled into a messy ponytail but her hair was in almost perfect curls, she had black eyes and freckles all over her face.

"I came to see him." The god responded.

"Why don't you come when he's awake then?" The lady asked bitterly coming closer. Nico noticed that her eyes weren't black they were just a really dark blue and they were filled with rage. "You always say you don't have the time but yet here you are."

"He's beautiful just like you." Thanatos said looking at the young Damien.

"Don't you try to sweet talk me mister."

"That's my mom." Damien said, hurt in his voice. "She was my everything."

"Alice I don't want to argue with you."

"Then get out you idiot, I don't want to see you or you to see Damien."

"Alice I came to discuss something to you, it's about Damien." Alice looked skeptical at Thanatos but nodded for him to go on. "I have never had a child, especially a demigod child." He started. "I have an ability that could've been passed to him but I'm not sure."

"What is it?" Alice asked.

"It's called a death touch, he could kill anything with a single touch, and if he's not properly trained he can be a danger to everyone, including you."

"So what does that have to do with anything?"

"I know I'm not suppose to meddle with a demigod child of mine, one of the unspoken rules of the gods but if I don't train him properly he's going to live a haunted life."

"What are you trying to say?" Alice asked.

"I've already gotten permission from Lord Hades and I'm here to bring Damien to the underworld."

"What?" Nico asked confused. "My dad gave permission to that."

"Yeah." Damien sighed. "I was awake the whole time they had this conversation so I've always wondered how different my life would've been if I had went with my father, how different it could've been if I had stopped pretending I was asleep."

"You want to take my baby away from me? Are you insane? Do you really think that I would allow you to do that?"

"Alice it's for your own safety."

"Forget my safety, what about the safety of him, Damien is part human still he can't be in the underworld, his life force can be taken away from him down there."

"No he is a child of the underworld, he would be safe down there, and he would be able to live down there."

"I still won't let you take him, he's showed no signs of this ability so he's staying with me."

"Please Alice I'm pleading with you, I need to take him with me back to the underworld."

"No, I won't let you. Now get out!" Alice yelled to the god. "You're not welcomed here!"

"Alice…'

"Leave now."

"Come on." Damien said motioning to Nico. "There's really nothing to see anymore."

Nico followed Damien out the room and down the stairs; the scenery changed a bit but was relatively the same as it was. Damien grabbed the doorknob to the backdoor and stopped.

"What's wrong?" Nico asked.

"Something isn't right." Damien said. "I… I don't think I should open the door…" Damien trailed off looking at Nico.

Suddenly there was a knocking at the door and Damien locked the door on reflex just as whoever it was tried to open the door.

"Damien." A soft voice said. "Let me in son."

"Nico I need you to leave and wake up." Damien said.

"It's the deity again isn't it?" Nico questioned. "Let me protect you."

"This isn't the deity." Damien said getting a haunted look in his eyes. "This is my mother, my dream mother, my conscious."

"Oh…" Nico trailed off.

"Yeah so if you could just please leave us to ourselves I would be thankful."

"Don't you trust me?" Nico asked.

"I do but I don't… please just do it for me."

"You shouldn't have to face here alone, Damien."

"Son, I just want to talk to you, please let me in."

"I need you to do this for me, please Nico." Damien said looking at Nico with haunted eyes. "Please."

"Fine." Nico sighed.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey." Damien said sitting next to Nico who was sharpening his sword.

"Hi." Nico said side glancing at Damien, "You've been here for a couple of days and you still don't have a weapon do you?" Nico asked.

"No." Damien shook his head. "What's your sword made out of? It looks different from the rest."

"Stygian iron, it's a metal from the underworld, when you die from this your life force is sucked into the blade, meaning when I kill monsters they don't reform ever."

"That's cool." Damien said looking at the blade in awe. "Can I touch it?" Damien asked leaning over to touch the blade.

"No, no." Nico said lifting his sword out of reach. "Don't do that."

"Why not?" Damien asked.

"Just no don't touch the blade."

"I want one." Damien said. "Well not a sword but I want a weapon in stygian iron."

"But you're not a child of Ha-"

"But I'm a child of the underworld right?" Damien asked. "Shouldn't I be able to use a blade like that?"

"Well, I mean I guess that would make sense…" Nico trailed off. "Do you even know how to use a weapon?"

"Of course not." Damien said.

"Well then let me teach you." Nico said standing up. "Come on stand up."

"Alright." Damien said standing up.

"Now I'm going to let you use my sword-"

"I don't want to use a sword." Damien pouted.

"Here, try this." A voice said from behind Damien.

"Hello Roger." Nico said scowling at the Ares boy behind Damien.

"Damien was it?" Roger asked ignoring Nico completely. Roger had chestnut hair in a fauxhawk with weird orange blue eyes. "I'm Roger, son of Ares head of the cabin." Damien nodded and blinked at the boy, he was hot. "So you don't like swords, neither do I, here try this." Roger was gesturing to the dagger that was in his hand.

"Damien, don't trust him." Nico said.

"Oh hello di Angelo didn't see you there." Roger smirked. "Long time no see."

"Yeah." Nico said bitterly. "Long time no see." Damien raised an eyebrow and looked between the two boys, something was definitely going on between them. "Come on Damien let's go see Will."

"Thought you were going to teach him how to use a weapon di Angelo." Roger smirked. "I mean if you won't do it I don't mind making a friend."

"Stay away from him Roger." Nico said glaring at him.

"Make me."

"Alright let's not talk about me like I'm not right here, okay." Damien said. Nico's grip on his hilt tightened as he glared at Roger who in return was just smirking at Nico, trying to piss him off and succeeding. "Hey Nico, Will said you guys had a couple more friends I still had to meet let's go meet them." Damien said grabbing Nico's wrist. "Come on."

"Bye di Angelo." Roger smirked waving to them as they left. "Nice meeting you Damien, see you real soon."

"Ignore him." Damien said practically pushing Nico away from Roger. "Your hair looks cute today Ghost King." Damien teased trying to get Nico to relax.

"Call me that again and I might kiss you." Nico teased right back. Damien's face turned bright red and he glared at Nico's back. "Oh so I was thinking."

"That's dangerous." Damien muttered.

"Oh haha, hilarious." Nico retorted before turning to face Damien as they walked. "Anyway like I was saying, your hair-"

"I died it black to get away from my past." Damien answered without even having to know the question. "My natural hair color is like my moms, light brown with an orange tint."

"Oh okay that makes sense because younger you-"

"Has different hair yes I know." Damien said.

"I think you would look cute with your original hair." Nico said tilting his head.

"Don't look at me that way you weirdo. "

"What way?" Nico asked.

"Found the two love birds!" Will exclaimed pulling Cecil and Lou Ellen towards the two.

"We're not love birds…" Damien trailed off the tips of his ears turning bright red.

"So this is the boy you won't shut up about, eh?" The girl with short choppy purple hair asked looking at Damien. "You know you're kinda cute."

"I…eh….I don't…hm don't like girls, sorry." Damien said awkwardly.

"So you're gay?" Will asked and smiled, light bulb

"Well I mean I guess..." Damien said short of uncomfortable now.

"Well so am I!" Will exclaimed happily. "Actually my boyfriend should be around here somewhere, he was working in the forges."

"Nico's gay too!" Lou Ellen exclaimed Damien looked at Nico with a raised eyebrow but Nico just shrugged. "Mitchell from the Aphrodite cabin and Malcolm from the Athena cabin are also gay, we don't judge here so you can be as gay as you want and no one will care." Lou Ellen smiled.

"Will what are you doing here?"

"Jake!" Will exclaimed before running off towards the voice.

"Not again." Cecil groaned.

"We'll be right back." Lou Ellen said,

"So…" Nico trailed off.

"They seem nice…" Damien muttered looking around.

"Yeah." Nico smiled, "We've been friends for a year or two now." Nico nodded.

"That's cool." Damien nodded.

"I have another question." Nico said getting Damien to actually look at him.

"Yeah?"

"How would you feel about going to the underworld?" Nico asked.

"Uh… why?"

"Well because it's almost Halloween and usually I spend it down there because well technically she's my half-sister, but she likes to come up and cause havoc in the mortal world so I usually stay down in the underworld for a week or so and I'm leaving tonight and I know you don't know a lot of people and I don't want you to be lonely while I'm gone…" Nico explained.

"Sure… I guess…" Damien said looking at Nico with a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Cool, we're leaving right after capture the flag s-"

"Capture the Flag?" Damien asked.

"Oh yeah you haven't been here that long. Well the cabins go against each other in a big game of capture the flag, the woods are split in half and the creek is the border."

"Sounds fun." Damien said.

"Great! We're on Will's team."

 **XxXxXxX**

Damien ducked to the left just barely missing getting skewered by an arrow. There was a loud laugh and Damien looked across from him to Nico who looked pissed off. Nico had the flag but they short of ran into Roger, literally Damien smacked right into him now they were being shot at. Damien looked up and jumped up climbing the tree.

"Di Angelo come out and face me like a real warrior!" Roger yelled. Damien decided that Roger was a lunatic. "Come on Ghost King fight me."

Damien looked down from his spot in the tree; he had scaled it pretty quickly. He looked down seeing Nico glaring at Roger. Damien went down a couple of branches and took a deep breath before jumping down on Roger's shoulders. As soon as he did that he realized how bad of an idea that was.

"DAMIEN!" Nico yelled looking at him. Damien was flipped right off of Roger's shoulders and onto the ground. The air was knocked out of him and he started having trouble breathing. A sword was placed at his throat and Damien looked at the angered face of Roger. "Roger this has nothing to do with him let him go." Nico said threateningly.

"Tch." Roger smirked. "Fight me like a man di Angelo, fists to fists, no fancy weapons then I'll let him go."

"Fine." Nico said tossing his sword away from him, Nico never wore armor; it just weighed him down. "Let's go son of Ares."

Roger's lips twitched and he embedded his sword in Damien's arm. Damien yelled out in pain and went to pull it out but his other hand was stepped on. A loud crunching noise could be heard from under Roger's boot.

"I guess the no impaling rule doesn't apply to me?" Damien asked sarcastically. Roger charged at Nico and pulled out a dagger. "I guess your problems couldn't be talked out." Damien groaned.

Nico scowled and ducked out the way as the dagger blade came at him; it was so typical for Roger to play dirty. Roger sneered and continued to go after Nico. Damien used his hand and pulled the sword out of his arm. He cried in pain as his hand twitched, it was most likely broken. He stood up and looked around for something other than a sword to use.

"You're a cheat Roger." Nico said as the dagger scrapped his cheek.

"I'm well aware." Roger smirked before throwing a punch at Nico. Nico groaned as the fist smacked him in the side of the face. Damien scowled before running and jumping on Roger's back. "What the hell!" Roger snarled.

Nico grabbed his sword and used the butt of it to hit Roger's helm. The helmet went down on his face and Damien quickly got off of him as Nico kicked Roger's legs. Roger went down and Damien glared down at the boy.

"And to actually think I thought you were cute." Damien muttered looking down at the Ares' son. Damien scrunched his nose and Nico glared down at Roger. Roger returned the glare but didn't get up due to Nico's sword being at his throat. "So… what do we do now?' Damien asked.

"Use the powder Lou gave you." Nico smirked. "She made this one just for you Roger."

"Don't you dare di Angelo."

"All of it?" Damien asked looking at the small vile of pinkish powder he took out.

"All of it."

"Alright." Damien shrugged and poured the whole thing on Roger who was threatening both of them; there was a loud poof before there was a small oinking sound. "He's a…pig." Damien snickered.

"Oh yes he is, it's Lou's specialty." Nico smirked picking up the small piglet. "Alright let's go we still have time to win this." Nico said putting his sword away.

"Right." Damien nodded and picked up the flag. "Let's go."

"Wait a minute." Nico said grabbing Damien's arm. "He really got you good." Nico said looking at Damien's wound.

"It's no big deal, I've had worse."

"Roger you're going to be in trouble, but not by Chiron, by Will." The pig oinked loudly, almost like a shriek. Damien raised an eyebrow at Nico. "Will is very frightening when someone messes with one of his patients or his friends, technically you're both so he's screwed." Nico explained.

 **XxXxXxX**

"I hate him so much." Will muttered as he was stitching up Damien, since he was wearing gloves Damien let Will touch him. "I really do, wait until that spells wears off I'm going to kick his-"

"Will are you almost done? Mrs. O'Leary is here to take us." Nico said as he walked into the infirmary.

"Us? He's going with you?" Will asked looking at Nico. "That's so…" Damien looked between the two; it was almost like they were having a mental conversation. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." Will said after a minute and turned back to Damien's arm, he had a sly smile on his face. "I get it Nico stop looking at me like that." Nico was giving Will a disapproving look. "He's done." Will said wrapping Damien's stitched forearm. "His right hand is fractured so be careful with him please, I don't want him dying; I actually like Damien."

"Obviously I'm going to be careful with him." Nico said rolling his eyes.

"I like him a lot better than I like you Nico di Angelo." Will muttered. "He's definitely a better patient." Damien chuckled at the healer causing the blond too look up with a smile on his face. "Make sure that idiot stays out of trouble, he has a mouth on him that causes a lot of trouble."

"No I don't." Nico muttered crossing his arms.

"Oh yes you do Mr. Sarcastic, let me tell you one day we were on a quest and he manages to piss off a hyperborean giant, do you know how friendly those things are? And he just pisses one off while I'm asking for directions."

"That sounds like an adventure." Damien smiled looking at Nico.

"Maybe one day we'll take you on a quest." Nico muttered.

"Oh that would definitely be fun." Will snickered.

"Anyway let's go Damien." Nico said turning around and walking away.

"Is it just me or does he seem different?" Damien asked.

"He gets like this whenever he goes to see his dad." Will shrugged. "You get used to it, you know eventually."

"Right." Damien nodded looking at the doorway

"So you like Nico."

"Wh-what?" Damien asked looking at Will.

"Yeah, I can tell from a mile away. It's okay though, I think Nico would be good for you."

"What do you mean?" Damien asked looking at Will.

"You'll find out soon enough." Will smiled at Damien.

"You're weird." Damien said getting off of the infirmary table.

"I get that a lot, it's an Apollo thing. Now get out." Will said shoving Damien through the doorway.

"Hey!" Damien said as he tripped but was thankfully caught. "Thanks." He said to Nico as he stood up.

"Yeah, well this is Mrs. O'Leary."

"What the…" Damien trailed off looking at the…. dog like creature who was almost as big as a tank. "You want me to get on that…thing?"

"She's a hellhound." Nico said as Mrs. O'Leary licked Damien head to toe. Damien shivered disgusted by the drool. "Come on she won't kill you, there's other hellhounds for that obviously."

"What?" Damien asked slightly panicked since they were about to go into the underworld, which was most likely, crawling with hellhounds.

"Kidding, just kidding, you're a child of the underworld, hellhounds won't bother you." Nico said getting on Mrs. O'Leary's back. "Now come on before I leave you."

"You wouldn't dare."

"You're right, now hurry up." Damien nodded and climbed up on to the dog's back, in front of Nico since said boy insisted. "Mrs. O'Leary take me to my father. "The dog barked happily before she started running, shadows surrounded them and Damien gasped. Soon enough the shadows disappeared. "STOP!" the giant dog started sliding on the marble floor.

"NICO!"

Damien shut his eyes tightly as he jerked forward off the dog. He felt something warm yet cold wrap around him and landed on something that didn't feel like a floor.

"Oomph." Damien opened his eyes seeing the ceiling, a very tall ceiling. "Sorry." Nico chuckled in his ear causing him to shiver slightly.

"Nico di Angelo what is the meaning of this?" A stern cold voice said. Damien moved his eyes to the body that was hovering over them. "Who are you?" Damien quickly got up and faced the god. "Are you going to answer me?" The god asked the room getting colder.

"Father." Nico said getting up and standing slightly in front of Damien. "This is my friend D-"

"Damien?" A slightly chilling but soft and warm voice asked. Damien's eyes met similar ones to his own and he froze. "What are you doing here?"

"Lord Thanatos…Lady Hecate… Lord Morpheus and Lord Hypnos…" Nico trailed off, he had just crashed one of his Dad's meetings. "It's nice to see you all…"

"What's your brat doing here, Hades?"

"Lady Nemesis…"

"I'm not sure but I would like to know also."

"Well I always come around this time, you know that." Nico said standing taller. "I wasn't aware that you were having a meeting."

"You're very beautiful." A voice said causing Damien to look to his right, a lady was in his face. "So unique." She said grabbing his cheeks with one hand causing him to start panicking. Her nails started digging in his skin. "I've seen those eyes before though." Damien winced; her nails were like claws.

"Hey stop that." Nico said tearing away his stepmother's arm. Damien yelped as her nails raked along his face. "He's not my sibling." He said before turning to Damien with a scowl.

"Oh." Persephone said giving Damien and Nico a dirty look. "Then explain those eyes that resembles the eyes of my other _darling_ step child."

"He's my son, Lady Persephone." Thanatos said causing the goddess to look at him. Thanatos looked at Damien with slight concern in his eyes. "I don't know why he's here."

"Oh you have a son too?" Nemesis asked with a smirk, "and he came with the brat… this should be good."

"My apologies." Persephone said. "I had thought that you were a child of my husband."

"If that's not an evil stepmother I have no idea what is." Damien muttered wincing since his face stung.

"Excuse you?" Persephone asked getting angry.

"You know if I'm starting to think you like pissing off the gods." Nico chuckled.

"It's my hobby." Damien shrugged.

"Persephone got back to your chambers." Hades said.

"What?"

" _Now_. I will not repeat myself." Hades said. Persephone scoffed but disappeared into a shower of daisies. "Crazy woman." Hades shook his head before looking back at the two demigods. Hades raised an eyebrow at how the two acted.

"Stop touching them they'll get infected." Nico muttered to Damien who kept trying to touch the scratches on his face.

"They hurt." Damien pouted.

"So why would you touch them?" Nico asked.

"You sound like Will." Damien whined looking to the floor.

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"No I-"

Hades cleared his throat gaining their attention, Damien's tan complexion turned bright red in a matter of seconds.

"I'm Hades, lord of the underworld." He said sticking out a hand, this boy was important to his son so he would play nice, for now at least. Damien starred at his hand and looked at Nico, who gave him a subtle nod. Damien stretched out his own hand and shook the offered one; it sure felt weird shaking hands with a god. "Gloves? You're not hot?" Hades asked looking at Damien who was in sweatpants and a Camp Half Blood hoodie.

"No he's just cautious." Nico said. "See he does this thing where he touches people and you know they die."

Hades looked back at the boy who was just looking back at the ground.

"It seems that he has inherited your death touch, Thanatos." Hades said turning the dark marble table in the middle of the room. "And has yet to control it." He added.

"Nico, I don't want to be here right now." Damien muttered stepping behind Nico farther. "Please can we leave the room or something?"

"Yeah. Father we'll be heading to my room, I'll give Damien a tour on the way."

"Yes of course." Hades said waving off his son. "We have much too discuss anyway."

"I thought the meeting was over?" Nemesis asked.

"It seems like there's a new topic to be discussed."

"Come on." Nico said pulling Damien out the room. "We'll go to my room it's not that far."

"They're talking about me." Damien said.

"Probably." Nico shrugged.

"Can I get a shower when we get to your room?"

"Duh."

 **XxXxXxX**

Damien stepped out the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist after he tried himself off. He bit his lip; he forgot his cloths in Nico's room. He sighed and went over to the door.

"Hey Nico I forgot my cloths." Damien said walking into Nico's room the steam behind him going into the cool air. He looked around and noticed that he was alone. "Great." He smiled going over to the small book bag that Nico packed for him. He put on his boxer and got slightly distracted by one of the photos in Nico's room. "Whoa that looks like a girl version of Nico…" He trailed off looking at the picture.

"That's my older sister, Bianca."

Damien stood up and turned around so fast he got unbalanced and started falling backwards. Nico's hand stretched out on reflex.

"Don't!"


	5. Chapter 5

"Nico!" Damien shrieked as Nico caught him. Bare skin on bare skin, Nico's hand was oddly cold but still inviting at the same time. Damien shivered and looked in Nico's eyes, a tear running down his face. "Why would you catch me?' Damien asked. "You're going to die now."

"I don't feel any worse." Nico said. Damien's eyebrows furrowed together. "What's wrong?"

"I…it's just usually people touch me or I touch them and in a few seconds they're dead but you… you're still alive…"

"Oh?" Nico asked. "Maybe since I'm the son of Hades it doesn't affect me?"

"Oh my gods." Damien smiled before throwing himself at Nico. "I CAN TOUCH YOU!" Nico caught Damien in his arms and felt hot tears on his neck. "I can't believe that I can actually touch somebody." Nico's lips twitched up and he wrapped his arms around Damien's midsection. "I could kiss you right now." Damien chuckled into Nico's neck.

"Then why don't you?" Nico asked. Damien pulled his face from Nico's neck and looked at his face. Nico felt something as he saw Damien's old empty haunted eyes now filled with life. "Well?"

"Don't tempt me ghost king." Damien said.

"I'm not stopping you." Nico flirted right back without missing a beat. Damien's eyes flickered with doubt so Nico shifted his one hand behind Damien's head. "Don't be shy my little Death Angel." He said before pulling Damien's face towards him. Their lips touched and Damien shivered and Nico's coldness. Nico pulled away and watched as Damien opened his eyes, the gold seemed to shimmer making Nico realize that Damien was crying. "I'm sorry did I force you into the kiss?"

"No I'm just happy that I can touch somebody without killing them." Damien sighed resting his head on Nico's chest, "It's been awhile since I could do that."

"I bet." Nico muttered. "Well I'm tired so why don't we go to sleep."

"Okay." Damien nodded still not letting go off Nico.

"Let me show you to your room…" Nico trailed off.

"Hmmm we're sleeping together." Damien said not letting go of Nico. "In your bed."

"Okay." Nico chuckled lifting Damien up and going over to his bed. "I guess that would work."

 **XxXxXxX**

Nico groaned sitting up and rubbing his chest, when did he take his shirt off? The knocking on the door reminded him what he had woken up in the first place. He went to get up but was restricted; he looked down seeing arms wrapped around his torso. He pried Damien's arms off of him and stood up off the bed slowly.

"Noooo." Damien slurred tiredly, "Come back."

Nico let out a small chuckle before turning and walking to his door, He opened it seeing his father standing there, waiting for him. Nico stood up straighter and ran his hand through his hair.

"Father."

"Nico." Hades said looking at his son, "I would like to speak to you." Nico glanced at his bed, Damien didn't seem like he would wake up for a while. "Is this a bad time?"

"No." Nico shook his head and stepped out of his room. Hades raised an eyebrow and cleared his throat. Nico looked at him confused before Hades motioned to his chest. "Oh right." Nico blushed. "Sorry." He went back into his room, where was his shirt even a- "Of course." Nico said seeing Damien cuddling his shirt. He shook his head and got a random shirt from his drawer, he put it on as he walked to his door. "Okay." Nico said shouting his door. "What did you need to talk to me about?"

"Let's take a walk."

 **XxXxXxX**

Damien sighed and opened his eyes, he sat up rubbing his eyes, he was aware that he was alone. He yawned and looked around, should he just wait until Nico got back? He shook his head and walked over to the bathroom, he grabbed the toothbrush he had brought and brushed his teeth. He gasped when he saw bruises around his neck they almost looked like fingers. He leaned closer to the mirror and looked closer at the bruises. He saw something move out of the corner of his eyes and looked in the mirror seeing a cloaked figure behind him. He turned around but nothing was there.

"What the…" He trailed off looking around the small bathroom.

He quickly finished brushing his teeth before going back in the bedroom. He changed into sweatpants and a regular t-shirt before going to the door and leaving. He coughed and rubbed his neck; the bruises had a slight tingle to them like they were recent. He shook his head and turned the corner knocking into someone.

"Watch it!"

"Sorry…" Damien muttered before looking up at the person, they had reddish brown hair and dark blue eyes. Damien's upper lip started to quiver slightly and tears formed in his eyes, "Mo-"

"DAMIEN, DON'T LOOK AT HER!" A voice said causing him to clamp his eyes shut tightly. "Melinoe don't mess with him again." Damien felt arms wrap around him tightly.

"That brat bumped into me."

"Leave before my sword bumps into your face." Damien heard a scoff before cold air brushed pass him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Damien said opening his eyes and looked up at Nico. "What was that?"

"Melinoe, goddess of ghosts, also the sister that causes panic during Halloween." Nico said. "If you can, avoid her."

"Okay." Damien nodded.

"Where were you going anyway?" Nico asked.

"I'm hungry." Damien replied looking at Nico expectantly.

"Right obviously." Nico nodded his hands trailing down Damien's arms to his hands. "Well we have food obviously but well if you eat the food here you'll be stuck here for…well forever."

"So you're going to starve me?"

"No of course not if I did that you would still be stuck here forever." Nico chuckled rubbing his face into Damien's hair. "Well if you didn't want to be reborn anyway."

"I wouldn't go to Elysium, I've killed too many people Nico."

"But that wasn't your fault."

"But I still did it." Damien said. "Anyway please feed me I'm hungry."

"Okay." Nico said. Damien felt a jolt and shivered before seeing that they were in front of a McDonalds. Damien raised an eyebrow at Nico. "Well that was a quicker way of Shadow traveling and this is my favorite place."

"I don't have shoes."

"Yeah but they can't see that." Nico laughed. "The mist."

"Mist?" Damien asked as Nico guided him into the McDonalds.

"I'll explain later." He said as they got in front of the counter. "Now order anything you want it's on me." Nico said pulling out a black ad silver credit card.

 **XxXxXxX**

Damien hummed as he exited the bathroom, he was stop by an older lady causing him to raise an eyebrow.

"There's help for that, you don't have to go through it."

"What?" Damien asked confused.

"Just don't him do that to you just because he's taking care of you."

"What are you talking about?" Damien asked.

"Honey seriously you shouldn't let him hurt you like that, if you need help there's people who will support you."'

Damien realized the lady was talking about the bruises on his neck and probably the makeshift cast on his hand or the stitches he had.

"Oh! No they're not from-"

"There's help for that." The lady said before moving around him and going into the other bathroom.

Damien's face turned red as he walked to the table and sat across from Nico. Nico raised an eyebrow at Damien's frown and blush.

"What's wrong?"

"Some lady just thought…" Damien trailed off embarrassed.

"Thought what?" Nico asked munching on his fries.

"She just thought I was in an abusive relationship with you." Damien muttered quietly.

"Why?" Nico asked raising an eyebrow, "A lot of people fracture their hands and get stitches, I mean not in the way you did but still there's no reason she should believe that you were in an abus-" Nico stopped mid word and narrowed his eyes at Damien.

"What?"

"Your neck." Nico said reaching over and running his fingers along the bruises. "Who did that?"

"I'm not sure." Damien shrugged. "I woke up with them there."

"But you didn't have a bad dream." Nico said his eyebrows furrowed. "I don't understand how that could've happened…" Nico shook his head. "I don't like that, someone marked you without being noticed by me or you."

"I'm sorry." Damien said resisting wincing away since Nico was still tracing his bruises.

"Don't be sorry." Nico said focusing on Damien. "Well now we know why she thought I was abusing you." Nico said his hand trailing down to Damien's hand. "If I would've known I wouldn't have brought you out in public," Nico said bring Damien's hand up to his face. "I'm sorry."

Nico kissed Damien's hand causing his face too turn into a stop sign. Damien cleared his throat and looked away embarrassed.

 **XxXxXxX**

"So, what do you want to do?" Damien just shrugged in response. "Well we could do anything you want."

"What do you usually do?" Damien asked.

"Usually my dad makes me do things that I guessed can be called chores but not really at the same time…"

"Like?" Damien asked looking at Nico.

"Going around making sure certain people are in the fields of punishment, checking on Cerberus, stuff like that you know." Nico shrugged.

"Lets go do that then." Damien said standing up.

"Are you sure, it won't be too fun." Nico said.

"Come on I want to go." Damien said putting on his shoes, "While we're at it you can give me a tour."

"Alright sounds like a plan." Nico said getting up from his swivel chair. "Um, you might want to be armed though because you know, there are monsters down here or like other things like the Keres are here…" Nico trailed off.

"Alright." Damien said. "One problem."

"You don't have a weapon…" Nico stated shaking his head with a small smile on his face. "You're something else."

"I know but you love it." Damien smiled going up to Nico and cuddling into his chest, how he did that while they were standing, Nico had no idea. "So…." Damien said with a smirk on his face.

"I'll go get you a weapon." Nico shook his head. "You're so persistent."

"I know but that's how I get my way." Damien sang.

 **XxXxXxX**

"Are you serious." Damien said looking at the dagger in his hand.

"You needed a weapon didn't you?" Nico teased looking over his shoulder to a pouting Damien.

"You know what I meant, I wanted a-"

"Stygian Iron weapon." Nico finished.

"Yeah and you gave me-"

"Celestial bronze." Nico smirked. "I know I did."

"You're a butt."

"I have one but I'm not one." Nico replied looking ahead with a smile on his face, Damien was cute when he was upset.

"You know what they say, you are what you eat."

"That's just disgusting."

"Standards, that's important to have when experimenting in relationships."

"Wait what?" Nico asked stopping and turning around.

"What?"

"Relationship?" Nico asked.

"Yeah people usually do sexual experimenting when they're together." Damien said looking at Nico weirdly. "So when you get into a relationship with someone it's good that you have standards, Nico." Damien said walking passed him.

"Wait a minute when _I_ get into a relationship with someone?" Nico asked catching up to Damien.

"Yeah." Damien said looking at him. "What?"

"I thought you know…" Nico trailed off. "You were going to say when we get into a relationship."

"Oh really?" Damien smirked.

"Yeah why not…" Nico said.

"Didn't realize we were going to be in a relationship."

"Well if that's how you feel then."

"Just because I don't realize something doesn't mean that's how I feel about that something, or that someone." Damien said. "Butthead."

"So you what does that mean?" Nico asked.

"You'll find out." Damien said looking at Nico. "You know, eventually." Nico just sighed and gave Damien an _are you serious look_." So where are we going all mighty tour guide?" Damien teased.

"Over there." He said pointing towards –surprise- the fields of punishment.

"Oh so we're not going to go party with the beautiful people pf Elysium?"

"No, no –watch your step- there is never trouble over there, now here, here is a different story. Multiple people have tried to escape the underworld, some have gotten out of the fields, but there's one particular person I'm here to make sure is still here." Nico said as they hopped over the stream of lava.

"Is that…opera music?" Damien asked.

"Yup. There's a wanna be thug dude chained to a spinning wheel that's forced to listen to opera music for all eternity, pretty sad really." Nico said. "There's also this one chick who's really terrified of heights and she's dangling upside down from a wire, it's like she's a real life piñata, I kind of feel bad for her."

"What did she do?" Damien asked.

"She murdered basically her whole family and raped her son before setting her neighbors house on fire."

"Well, she definitely deserves what she got."

"Yeah that's her hysterically crying, the furies mess with her all the time, it's kind of funny to watch." Nico shrugged.

"So who are we going to check on?"

"We're going there." Nico said pointing to a hill.

As they got closer Damien could here a grinding noise then just BOOM, BOOM, BOOM followed by a string of curses; some that Damien never heard of before. Nico just sighed as they rounded the corner.

"NOT AGAIN! I won't do it!" The dude, that Damien thought looked like a fat troll doll with a diaper on, cursed.

"Sisy it's great to see that you're still with us." Nico said sarcastically, it was never nice dealing with this lunatic.

"Oh no! Not you son of Hades!" The dude, Sisy as Nico called him, exclaimed.

"Yes me."

"Where are the furies? I would rather have them come check on me!"

"Ouch who would ever like those bats better than anybody?" Damien asked wincing.

"Who are you?"

"Damien."

"I am Sisyphus." The troll dude said. "I won't do it!" He yelled looking at the sky angrily. "Fine but this is the last time do you hear me! NOT ONE MORE TIME."

"I understand why you call him Sisy now." He started pushing the boulder up the hill, Nico sighed. Damien watched as the dude struggled to get it up. "That must be really heavy." Just before the top of the hill the boulder came crashing down, with Sisyphus cursing in several different languages. Nico tugged Damien by the shoulder a couple steps back and the boulder bounced off, what seemed to be an invisible wall and rested at the foot of the hill. "You must be experienced." Damien said.

"He's tried to kill me with the boulder before." Nico shrugged.

"CURSE YOU CURSE YOU!" Sisyphus said wobbling down the hill before kicking the boulder.

"Do you need help?" Damien asked.

"What are you doing?" Nico asked looking at Damien like he was crazy.

"You'll help me?" Sisyphus asked." Push up my boulder, I mean."

"Do you need help?"

"YES! YES! Yes I do!" Sisyphus exclaimed.

"That's tough body."

Sisyphus's orange face turned bright red in anger and Nico had to stifle his chuckle. Damien was way worse than him.

"Listen you, you snot nosed brat!" Sisyphus said pointing a finger at Damien.

"I would watch what you say to him." Nico said casually taking out his sword and inspecting the blade.

"Is that a threat son of Hades?" Sisyphus asked daringly even though he was giving a wary look to Nico's sword.

"Not really, just a suggestion." Nico said looking at Sisyphus.

"You're lucky you have you're little friend here to watch your mouth for you, you brat!"

"Don't you have a rock to push?" Damien asked.

"YOU!"

Sisyphus charged and Nico realized that they were close enough to where Sisyphus could reach them. Before he could react the troll was on his face in an instant causing Nico to blink. Damien had his foot on the back of his head and looked rather agitated from his usually calm and chilled demeanor.

"Me?" Damien asked. "What about me?" Sisyphus just gave a small tiny squeak; he obviously didn't expect Damien to be able to back up his sarcastic, taunting mouth. "Actually I think you're rock is calling you, maybe you should answer it." Damien said removing his foot. In an instant Sisyphus was dragged back by an invisible rope. "Sad really." Damien said as Sisyphus started cursing again.

"Well…" Nico said. "You're just full of surprises aren't you?" Nico asked leading Damien away by the small of his back.

"I guess." Damien shrugged quickly settling down into his calm demeanor. "So, where to now?"

"Oh wait a minute." Nico turned back to Sisyphus. "Hey Sisy!" Even though the boulder weighed a couple of tons he managed to glare at Nico. "Damien is the son of Thanatos!" Sisyphus' face paled and he lost his balance, the boulder effectively rolling over him. "Alright come on." Nico said smiling.

"What was that about?" Damien asked.

"Well, Sisy tricked you're father and chained him up so the doors of death would stay open and no one would die. So Sisyphus has been on the bad side of basically, every god of the underworld since then…Especially Thanatos."

"Oh I see."

"Speaking of the doors of death that's our next stop."

 **XxXxXxX**

"Are we there yet?" Damien whined, his feet starting to hurt.

"No not yet." Nico said as they stopped at a path that went downward. "Alright listen I'm going to need you to stay here while I go check it out."

"Check what out?" Damien asked.

"The doors of death stay around the same area, usually around Tartarus and well it's dangerous to go near the opening of it because you could get pulled down there."

"So isn't it dangerous for you?" Damien asked.

"Well short of, I can shadow travel my way out so… I just have to make sure they're closed."

"Nico, that's really dangerous…" Damien said looking at Nico with concern."

"I can take care of myself." Nico promised.

"Nico I don't have a good feeling about this…" Damien trailed off looking around.

"I have to do this, it's one of my duties." Nico said

"Isn't, like, my dad in charge of the doors so why do you have to make sure they're shut?" Damien asked.

"Listen." Nico said taking a deep breath. "You can go back up to the palace and wait for me, I've done this a thousand times before and nothing bad has ever happened to me. Don't you trust me?"

Damien held his tongue to think, he did trust Nico but something didn't feel right, something just didn't feel right. Whatever the doors of death were, Damien didn't think they were down there, he could just feel it. Damien sighed and looked at Nico again.

"Okay, but I'm waiting right here."

"Thank you." Nico smiled kissing Damien's forehead. "I'll be right back."

As soon as Nico turned the corner Damien's stomach dropped. Damien opened his mouth to say something but stopped when he felt fingers ghost across his neck. Damien closed his mouth and gripped his dagger in his hand. He turned around but saw nothing making him take a couple steps back. He bumped into something, no someone but before he could react his vision turned completely black.


End file.
